Hi All,

I want to take a moment to talk about what happened to me the other day.
I was out on a dog walk with one of my clients in Newark, CA, and on our
way back to the house, we passed a car parked on the street. As we got
near the car, a dog inside the car popped its head up and barked at us as
we passed.

Now, this was during a period of very hot weather, and the windows were
just barely cracked open. It was way to hot for a dog to be left in a car, even
if the windows were all the way down, let alone just barely open.

I got very upset, but I didn't trust the looks of the house, so I called the Newark
Police Department instead so they could handle the situation. I just could not
understand how anyone could think that leaving thier dog in a hot car on a 
hot day with the windows almost all the way up was okay.

I didn't know how well the police were going to handle the situation, but when
I got to my next dogwalking assignment, the Newark Police called me on my
cell phone. I was surprised at how fast they acted, and they told me that the
person had just "run inside for a minute" and left the dog in the car. The police
lectured the person on leaving an animal in a vehicle on a hot day, and they
told me that they felt the dog was probably in there longer than a few minutes.
But, the dog was fine and the person listened to them and understood he or she
did something wrong.

I want to commend the Newark, CA Police Department for a very quick response
to a dogwalkers concern, and I think they did an excellent job in seeking to
protect the well being of this dog left in the car. I know most of you surely know
that you cannot leave an animal in a car on a hot day. Even with the windows
all the way down, a car can heat up very quickly and can cause severe heat
stress to a pet, and possible death. Please take them out of the vehicle and
bring them with you, or just leave your dog at home on hot days.

I usually bring my dog with me to some of my dogwalking assignments, but when
it is too hot out I leave him home. Just getting into a hot car is stressful enough
for me to know that he should not come with me.

If you see a dog in a car when you know it is way too hot in the vehicle to be safe
for the animal, please don't hesitate to call the local police department so they can
do what they can to help the animal. You may or may not feel comfortable approaching
the person yourself, so it is best to let the authorities handle it.